Carolyn M Choo

We are deeply honoured that Barbara will be at SEGi College Subang Jaya on 3 Oct to talk about independence. She will be speaking on this topic at ENABLE 2015 on 5th November 2015, Kensington, London

http://www.enableearlyyears.com/vision.html

Discover why and how you should nurture independence in the early years.

MCI graduates – this is the perfect opportunity to come together on 3 October at SEGi College Subang Jaya. Meet Barbara. Reflect on your practice and be inspired to nurture independence in the early years.

Preschools in Malaysia recently participated in the SKPK 2015 exercise which ended in August. SKPK refers to the Standard Kualiti Prasekolah Kebangsaan or National Preschool Quality Standard. This exercise required the preschools (MoE, KEMAS, JPNIN and private) to complete an online self-assessment that covered five dimensions of quality – management & governance; staffing; curriculum; home-school interaction; and health, nutrition & safety. The instrument was first used in 2013, and subsequently revised in 2014.

The self-assessment of the public preschools was verified by the School Inspectorate and Quality Assurance while that of the preschools in the private sector was verified by the Private Education Division, State Education Departments and the ECCE Council.

This year, the verification of the 210 randomly selected private preschools took place between 7 to 18 September.  SEGi SJ fielded a strong team of 6 EC lecturers who covered the Klang Valley, Melaka, Johor, Pahang and Tawau. The lecturers valued the verification experience as it gave them a good insight into the local early childhood industry, bringing them into rural and urban settings of diverse quality. When SKPK was first implemented in 2013, SEGi SJ sent only two EC lecturers as part of the verification team.

SEGi lecturers at the SKPK training at Eastin Hotel on 19 August, organised by the ECCE Council

20 Aug, Jemaah Nazir officer briefs the verifiers on the revised SKPK instrument

26 August, verifiers attending the SKPK briefing at the Ministry of Education.

FoED lecturer, Chai Geok Kim, with the Officers and Preschool teachers in Melaka

FoED lecturer, Michelle Huan, discussing the self assessment scores at one of the preschools in the Klang Valley

Barbara Isaacs trained with Montessori St. Nicholas in the early 1980’s and since then continued to study both in the field of Montessori education and early years, achieving Masters in Early Years Education under the guidance of Tina Bruce in 2000.

She is the author of Bringing Montessori into Your Early Years Setting (2009) and Understanding the Montessori Approach (2012) both published by David Fulton Books.

Over the past twenty five years Barbara trained and supported training of Montessori Teachers in her capacity of a lecturer both at Montessori St. Nicholas, London Montessori Centre and Montessori Centre International. In her current role she has been involved with course development and promotion of Montessori education with the UK and internationally.

Barbara is committed to bringing Montessori education to children of the 21st Century.

Barbara Isaacs – Director of National Strategies

MA, BA, Adv. Mont. Dip.

Barbara joined the newly established MCI in 1998 after training Montessori teachers both at Montessori St. Nicholas and London Montessori Centre.  She was also a proprietor of Seedlings Montessori Nursery in Oxfordshire for fifteen years. She is the Academic Director for the Montessori Centre International and the Senior Accreditation officer for the Montessori Accreditation and Evaluation Board. She has also authored books on the Montessori approach.

Public lecture on Independence by Barbara Isaacs

Barbara will be at SEGi College Subang Jaya on Saturday 3 Oct 2015 for a free public lecture on the topic of “Independence”. The one hour talk is at 10am. Following the talk, SEGi Montessori alumni are invited to share with Barbara how their practice has been transformed following their study on the International Diploma in Montessori Pedagogy.

This will be a great opportunity for the Montessori community to exchange ideas on what we believe to be our best practices.

Pls contact Carolyn at 013-3508598 to confirm your participation. Invite your friends as well.